Tag: Solo Traveling

Tips for planning a Long-term Backpacking Trip

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How exciting! You are about to head off on an adventure! Taking long trips is such a rewarding experience, but it can also be overwhelming to leave the comforts & routine of home. Here are some of my best recommendations in order to set yourself up for success!

Warning: this will be a long post, but I never said planning a long adventure would be easy 🙂 These are all my best tips that have been floating around in my head after backpacking for a cumulative 20 months (so far!).

Right before taking off for 6 months in Europe!

Before the trip:

Decide where you want to go! There are many things to consider:

  • Do you want to travel fast or slow? Traveling slow is better for your budget & sanity (haha), but traveling faster means you get to see more of whatever country/continent you are exploring.
  • What is the weather the time of year you will be there? Traveling in Europe during the winter brings short days & cold weather, but less crowds & cheaper prices. Traveling during the summer in Europe brings the heat, sun & enormous crowds. Traveling in Southeast Asia or Central America during rainy/monsoon season might not be your thing.
  • Any violence/political upheaval/safety/medical concerns in the countries you are considering? I always check the US State Department website (but because I sometimes find it to be too alarmist, I also check the UK version).
  • I use blogs as a great resource to get started on what itineraries can look like. I usually search things like “three months in Southeast Asia” or “one month in Eastern Europe” or “three weeks in Turkey,” etc. It’s a great starting off point because you likely won’t be the first person to have ever set off on a 5 month trip in Southeast Asia so why not let someone else give you an idea of what the logical route is. For example, the Gringo Trail in Central America or the Banana Pancake Trail in Southeast Asia are well known & well worn paths. Makes it easy to start your plan based on what’s been done before. Reddit & TikTok also can be incredibly useful resources for travel planning.

  • As you research, start saving all the restaurants, hostels, attractions, etc you come across into google maps. I create different lists by country to keep it organized. This makes it easier to remember before/during/after your trip what you want to do/did do.

Have a valid passport 🙂 This seems obvious, but what might not be as obvious is a lot of countries require you to have a certain amount of time remaining of validity AFTER your trip. For example, lots of countries in Asia require this. Be sure to look up the exact rules for any country you are planning to visit. You can read more about this rule here. Another consideration is to make sure you have enough pages for any future visas or stamps. Some countries will callout that there needs to be one full page available for this visa/stamp. Again just look up the rules for wherever you are specifically going.

(PSA I am speaking about my experience as a US citizen in this section). Double check the need for visas & how long you are allowed to stay. Every country has a different set of rules! When you are going on a long trip, you’ll want to think ahead in case you need to apply for any visas at a consulate or online or whether you can get it on arrival. For example, in the Schengen region in Europe, you don’t currently need to apply for a visa ahead of time, but this could change in the future (it’s being considered). For NZ/Australia, you need to apply for an ETA (electronic travel authority) ahead of your arrival. It’s pretty easy, relatively cheap, and doesn’t take too long to process, but you DEFINITELY need to do it. Also, you need to pay attention to how long you can stay! For example, in the Schengen region in Europe, US citizens can stay for 90 days out of any 180 days. It’s common for long term backpackers in Europe to pop to non-schengen countries like the UK, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, etc for 90 days to bide their time until they can go back to the Schengen region. Pro-tip: if you are interested in staying longer in the schengen region, the best & cheapest way might be to get a student visa and go spend 3 months learning a language or any other type of course!

In Thailand you can get a visa on arrival and that allows you to remain in the country for up to 30 days. You can apply for a longer visa if you’d like, but it requires more effort. The point is, it’s very important to look up the requirements of every country you are going to! You never know what random thing you might have to do. Some have required me to have a specific amount of money in US dollars (kinda funny that they require USD), some have required me to have certain vaccines (more on that later), & some require me to have extra passport sized photos (so I always take extra with me).

Vaccines! While in Europe there aren’t any vaccine requirements or recommendations, if you are heading to Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and other parts of the world, there is research to be done on what vaccines you should have before you go. This list isn’t comprehensive so you should do your own research, but here are a few that you might need to consider:

  • Yellow Fever
  • Rabies
  • Japanese Encephalitis
  • Hepatitis A & B
  • Typhoid
  • Meningitis
  • Malaria pills (not a vaccine, but consider taking these with you)

Protip: Getting vaccines in the US (because these aren’t usually covered by insurance) can be very expensive. One option, if your trip plan allows it, would be to get these while in another country. For example, if you are heading to Australia first & then heading to Southeast Asia, perhaps you plan to get the vaccines while in Australia. Even without insurance, the out of pocket costs tend to be way less than the US. For context, I spent almost $1800 on vaccines before my first trip to Southeast Asia. Never again will I do that. However, the good news, is that most of these are one & done vaccines so once you have them, you don’t need to get them again.

Decide on trip insurance coverage! This covers both trip delay/cancellation coverage as well as medical insurance. I personally don’t worry about trip delay/cancellation coverage as my credit card (more on this later) provides a base level of coverage AND given I am backpacking with very little plan/stress, if things go haywire, it’s not too big of a deal. I’d rather save my money for the actual traveling. HOWEVER, I’d highly recommend you have some level of international medical coverage. If you have health insurance from the US, it’s not likely to cover you while outside the country. Given this, at a minimum you’d want to get a “catastrophe coverage” plan, where if something really bad happened, you’d have some coverage. For example, if I was in a car accident or needed to medevac’ed out from a fall on a hike, I wouldn’t have to pay for that out of pocket. The good news is that practically everywhere except the US has a reasonably priced medical system, so when I have had to go to a doctor or pharmacy for more rudimentary stuff, paying for it out of pocket is no big deal (just make sure to budget this in for your trip!). For example, I felt very, very sick in North Macedonia and finally went to the doctor & got some blood tests done. Turns out it was Anemia and I just need to take some iron pills for a bit. The two doctors visits + the blood test + the iron pills all together cost me $85 USD. This seemed insane to me given this would be thousands of dollars in the US, but I guess this is just beautifully normal outside of the US. Point being, covering an occasional doctors visit shouldn’t scare you, but you’d want coverage if an ambulance or helicopter is involved. Check out this review of some options. I personally have used GeoBlue & Seven Corners in the past, but luckily haven’t had to use either policy (yet!).

Budget for the trip – figure out how much money you have vs how much money the trip is (roughly) going to cost. You’d hate to get on the road and quickly realize you don’t have enough money to finish the trip you had your heart set out on. I always like to overestimate how much I’ll need so I can say yes to things without worry/stress.

Pro tip: I always take one or two hundred dollars bills as an emergency fund of cash. Sometimes you’ll be in a random situation where they only take USD & you’ll be glad for that random $100 bill in your bag.

Credit Cards – Given how much money you are going to be spending over the next xxx amount of months, I highly recommend you get a travel credit card for a few reasons:

  • You get some limited trip cancelation/delayed coverage.
  • You get a 0% foreign transaction fee (aka you don’t pay a fee for using it internationally)
  • You get points for the money you are spending, which in turn you can use for buying some flights!
  • Some have travel perks like paying for TSA-precheck or Global Entry
  • My favorite perk for my credit card is a free Priority Pass membership, which means I get to go to a lounge (& bring up to two friends for free) whenever I am at the airport. Free food + a comfy spot to hang (especially on layovers) is such a game changer!

Pro tip: when paying with credit card in foreign countries, it sometimes asks you whether you’d like to pay in the local currency or in USD. Always pick the local currency. The exchange rate never favors you.

I personally use the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It’s considered one of the best travel cards out there. Don’t be too alarmed by the high annual fee (I feel like it more than pays for itself). You can read an in-depth review here. In summary for the $550 annual fee, you get:

  • Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Hello free flights!
  • $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year. To me, since I will always spend more than $300 on travel per year, this means the annual fee is $250.
  • Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
  • Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 toward travel
  • 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs. This is considered the best way to utilize points.
  • Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select and up to $100 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck®. My favorite feature.
  • Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more. An underrated perk
  • Member FDIC

If you are interested in this card, you can use this link to sign up (I get a referral bonus if you do – wahoo!)

Pro tip: Always bring two credit cards in case you lose one or one gets stolen (and keep them in different places)! In the past, my parents put me as an authorized user so that I could use that as my back up. Luckily, I never had to use it!

Accessing local currency aka cash. Most places in Europe are often cashless, however many other parts of the world cash still runs the world. While you can always order some local currency before you leave on your trip, in my opinion it’s better to just head to the ATM once you arrive. Also, don’t exchange USD for currency (unless it’s the only option) as this is not a very efficient way of getting money (aka it’s expensive). My number one recommendation is to get a Charles Schwab Checking account which comes with their all powerful ATM card. Its magic comes from the fact that they will reimburse ATM fees ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. No more worrying about getting the exact amount of money so you don’t have to pay the $5 fee again. This has helped me avoid accidentally ending up with way too much Macedonian Denars or Thai Baht as I am about to leave the country. This is another game changer! Not sold yet, read a review here 🙂

Decide what you are going to do for cell phone coverage. There are a few options.

  • Most economical: Turn off cellular data & just use wifi. You do get the perk of being completely present wherever you are + it’s free. I did my first two big trips like this, but I decided on my most recent trip that I wanted to be able to do research on the fly & be able to be in contact with both people I meet while on the road + people from home. Wifi is plentiful in most places as your accommodation, most cafes/restaurants, & airports all are going to have wifi.
  • Recommended option: Get local sims or e-sims. This is going to be what most backpackers do as it’s relatively affordable but still gets you connected. The downside, is sometimes the e-sims work seamlessly, while other times folks have said it doesn’t work all that well. It can also be annoying to constantly be getting a new sim/e-sim every time you cross a border (less of an issue in Europe as most it covered under one sim). Airalo is the one I hear the best things about. One note: you do have to have an unlocked phone for this option to work.
  • Easiest option: Use your US carrier’s international coverage option. You basically don’t have to do anything. I called AT&T and made sure the international coverage was active on my plan and I was good to go. They charge $10 per day, up to 10 days per billing cycle. Essentially, it’s $100 per month (on top of the normal monthly cost). It’s definitely not cheap, but my phone works EXACTLY as it would in the US, which is so nice. I can call anyone, FaceTime anyone, download Netflix, hotspot my computer or new friends, not worry about calling international numbers, etc.

How to even pack for a long trip! This admittedly can be quite difficult. I go in depth of what I bring here & here. I lay out what I bring as well as my overall approach. I recommend reading those posts, but here are few top tips:

  • Use a carryon sized backpack (40L or less). I KNOW I KNOW it’s hard, but your back & wallet will thank you. Also, it’s comforting to always have your bag with you vs risking it getting lost on that tight layover. I am obsessed with any of Tortuga’s backpacks. It’s obviously not the cheapest bag you can find, but it’s designed for exactly this type of travel! Every detail is designed for organization, maximizing space, & easy access. It’s also very high quality & isn’t going to fall apart on you. Double check the dimensions on whatever bag you get, to see whether it’ll work as a carryon item. Osprey is another reputable brand in the backpack space.
  • Consider what season you are traveling. It’s much easier to pack light for summer than it is for winter. I tend to “chase summer” on my trips since I obviously prefer sunny, warm days, but also because the clothes and shoes tend to be smaller & easier to pack.
  • Packing or compression cubes will be your best friend. Not only can you fit way more in with packing cubes, it also helps keep you organized when you are living out of small spaces like hostels.
  • Learn what a capsule wardrobe is. Every top needs to be able to be worn with every bottom! Same with every shoe and every jacket. You get the idea 🙂
  • Throw a AirTag (or other tracking tile) so you always know where your bag is! It was super helpful when my bag didn’t make it on a connecting flight, I didn’t have to wait endlessly at the carousel. I just immediately went up to the lost bag carousel and was on my merry way (it luckily got delivered to my friend’s house 1 day later). It always provides me some peace of mind when I have to put under a bus that I can always see that it’s still traveling with me.
  • Less is more! Whatever you forget or realize “oh wait I actually need that,” chances are you can probably buy it wherever you are going. But honestly, you’ll probably quickly realize that you don’t need nearly as much stuff as you think. Also, you’ll be so much happier with a small, lighter bag. I honestly enjoy the lack of choices of clothing. Most hostels will have laundry machines and it’s usually free or fairly cheap.
  • A few must haves: comfy shoes to walk around in, good basic jacket (I use this one), a tiny lock for my bag’s zippers, noise cancelling headphones (I have AirPods + Bose headphones), AirTag to keep track of your backpack, iPad for reading + watching Netflix on long travel days), portable charger, plug adapter, inflatable neck pillow & more (see here).
2 months in Colombia
2 months in Colombia
2 months in Colombia
All packed for 6 months in Europe!
All packed for 6 months in Europe!

Booking hostels or accommodation: I mostly stay in hostels, although as I get older, I am definitely sprinkling in more airbnbs and hotels haha.

For hostels: I recommend doing research on hostelworld so you can find the best option for you & read real reviews, but whenever possible I book directly with the hostel. It usually has a better price and the hostel makes more money (yay for helping small businesses): a win-win. Some other tips for booking hostels:

  • Decide if you prefer a coed or same sex room. Coed tends to be slightly cheaper. Personally, I tend to book coed as I save a little money & I find that people are friendlier & it gives me the best opportunity to meet cool people.
  • The bigger the room, the cheaper it will be, but your sleep will likely suffer. Definitely bring ear plugs + eye mask to help.
  • Private rooms are always an option if you want the access to socializing that a hostel provides, but don’t want to share a room with strangers. They are obviously more expensive but a good option if you don’t want to be completely solo at a hotel. I have also used this option when I am traveling with friends as we want to meet people and don’t want to pay for a hotel, but want a good nights rest.
  • Things I look for in the reviews: ease of meeting people, quality of common areas + kitchen, comfiness of bed, cleanliness of the hostel, + location. Ideally there are lockers as well to store your bag or valuables.

Booking airbnbs is pretty self-explanatory, but don’t forget that they have rooms available (vs the whole apartment) as a cheaper option. I have stayed at some pretty cool airbnbs over the course of my travels. It can provide a really cool, more local experience.

Booking hotels: I try to use credit card points where I can since hotels are expensive in Europe. Luckily Southeast Asia is much cheaper. I tend to look at Hotels.com or Booking.com when I am going to book a hotel stay. I’ve found luck getting apartment stays as well so I can have a kitchen.

Booking transportation between destinations: Rome2Rio is lifesaving! I usually find transportation between locations to be cheapest by bus, then plane then train. This is just general though, so I always start my planning with what Rome2Rio shows me.

Start a Travel Folder for any apps on your phone. I download airlines & train apps so I have access to my tickets/boarding passes, VPN apps, apps that track my travels like Been & Flighty (these are very fun & cool), uber equivalents in other countries like Grab or Gojek, e-visa apps (like for Canada, Australia, or NZ), and accommodation apps like Airbnb, Hostelworld, Booking.com, & Agoda. By keeping them in a folder, it’s easy to find all my travel info.

During the trip:

Even if you have a good plan for cell-phone coverage, it’s always a good idea to download an offline map of each city/town you are headed to on Google Maps. I just batch do this for the next few cities I am headed to. This way if I am out of service or the service gets wonky, at a minimum I can still see where I am & where I need to go.

Pick up a few phrases in the local language. If you are in native English speaker, just appreciate your privilege now. We are incredibly lucky that with most places you will go, people who are working at the restaurants, hotels, & anything else related to tourism, tend to speak at least a basic level of English. That being said, it’s smart to do two things: learn the important phrases like Hello, Goodbye, Please & Thank you in the local language. This obviously goes a long way in being a good guest in a country. The other important thing is to download Google Translate or Papago so when you come across someone who doesn’t speak English, you will easily be able to communicate what you need help with, whether it’s ordering food or finding out where the bus leaves from. Google translate also allows you to take a picture of a menu or description and it will translate the written text into English for you. This is a game changer and I am so grateful it exists.

Free walking tours are my go to on my first day in a new city. Easy way to meet people and you get a good summary of what to do. Also it’s a cheap activity (just make sure to leave a tip afterwards)! 

When people you meet along the way offer to host you when you are in their country, take them up on it! I have made so many great friends by actually saying yes when they invite me & it’s a bonus that you save money! It always makes the visit to the new place that much more enriching.

I always leave my passport locked up in my bag, locked in the storage locker in my hostel/hotel room. I’d never want it on me in case I got pickpocketed. Along these lines, I always keep on credit card on my person (although Apple Pay is increasingly available), and one back at the hostel so that if either my room got broken into or I got pick pocketed, I will always have a back up.

Travel fatigue/burnout: Like clockwork, I personally always get burnt out of backpacking (aka packing up and moving cities every week), so I try to proactively build in some opportunities to rest & remain in one place for a bit into my itinerary. In 2016, I spend 3.5 months at a language school in Barcelona (this helped me to get a student visa so I could stay in Europe for a year!). In 2017, I spent 2.5 months as an au pair in Spain. In 2023, I was au pair again in Spain. In 2024, I studied Spanish in a language once again, this time in Medellin Colombia for 6 weeks! Can you tell I am trying to learn Spanish??! Each time, I had my own room (so nice after being in hostels), I could unpack all of my stuff, there was a built in community (either the other students or the families), I had a routine, and I can just rest. Fairly quickly the decision fatigue & research fog dissipates. It also helps to get me excited about getting back on the road after. Check out Workaway for tons of opportunities to spend some time settled in one place doing anything from being an au pair, working on a farm, pet sitting, volunteering at a hostel, and way more. You can also take a look at housesitting through Trusted Housesitter.

Pro tip: Doing a Workaway is also an incredible way to save money while still getting an experience abroad. Kill two birds with one stone: you can recharge from the burnout & almost completely diminish costs for a bit.

Commemorating your trip! How will you memorialize all your fun adventures? There are many ways to do this:

  • Keep a diary
  • Write a blog
  • Send an email blast to your loved ones
  • Send postcards to your loved ones
  • Get a postcard in every city or country you go to. Postcards a great souvenir to collect because they are cheap & easily fit in your tiny backpack 🙂 Protip: I have started writing on the back of the postcard as if it’s almost a little diary entry. I also add the month/year. When I am home, I am going to hole punch them all together.
  • Ask everyone you meet to add their favorite song into a Spotify playlist
  • Keep apps like Been or Flighty up to date. Been tracks what countries & US States you’ve been to. Fun to see the map get colored in over time. Flighty is great because if you input all the flights you take, it creates a map of all your flight journeys as well as some fun statistics like how many miles you’ve flown or how much time you’ve lost due to delays.
  • I keep a few Notes in my Notes app on my iPhone that track where I have been. For example for each long-term trip I go on, I have a note that lists out all the cities I go to by country with a running total at the top. I also have a note that lists the countries of each trip. I have a running list that shows every city & country I have EVER gone to. I have a list of countries I’ve been to in alphabetical order and in chronological order. This may be crazy, but I love tracking this stuff haha. Some examples:

Summary

This is going to be a fabulous adventure + you are going to learn so much about the world & yourself! What an incredible gift you are giving yourself 🙂 While it might feel overwhelming to navigate all that long term traveling entails, it is SO worth it. Feel free to reach out via Instagram dm (@meglnichols) or through the blog if you have any follow up questions!

Liechtenstein + Switzerland

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Warning: this is going to be a photo heavy post because these countries were so dang beautiful!

CITY: Vaduz

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at the only hostel in Liechtenstein: Schaan-Vaduz Youth Hostel. True to its name, it’s in between Schaan & Vaduz (which is the capital of Liechtenstein). Not true to its name, it’s not really a youth hostel as there were plenty of families. But beggars can’t be choosers, and this is a great affordable option in a very expensive country. Fun fact, Liechtenstein has the highest per capita GDP in the world. Great free breakfast & parking was available for $10 Swiss Francs. Facilities were fairly modern & bathrooms were nice. Huge dining hall like area with tons of seating.

Where to eat:

The standout meal was at Hotel Turna Malbun, where I tried Spaetzle Pfanne. Basically it’s eggnoodles with ham, bacon, onion and cheese aka obviously I loved it. It was huge so I saved half for dinner!

What to do:

Liechtenstein is tiny. Literally the 6th smallest country in the world! This means it’s very easy to see almost everything in one day, but I was happy to have 2 days to run around. Even though I knew it was small going into the trip, I still was blown away by how small it was haha. Despite its small size, I was very glad to heave a car because it made it so easy to move freely around the country at my leisure. Here are the villages I saw & what I did in each:

Also this blog post was incredibly helpful in planning my time here!

Vaduz – the capital. I took a ride on the City train, a cute little tourist train looking open air bus that took us on an hour tour around the city. We got to see the famous Rote House (Red House) & the Vaduz Castle where the prince currently lives. I got a tourist passport stamp on my Liechtenstein postcard (since I didn’t want to risk messing with my actual passport).

Processed with VSCO with m3 preset
Processed with VSCO with m3 preset

Triesenberg – My favorite part was honestly driving up to this village. The views are stunning as you zig zag up the mountain. Not much to do here but I walked around for 10 min (haha all the villages are tiny!).

Malbun – this was my favorite spot. Felt like I was in the Swiss Alps. Very picturesque. I had a yummy lunch (see above) and then took the chairlift up to the peak and did the hour long hike back down to the base. It was gorgeous & I got to catch up with a friend on my way down.

Gorgeous views from the hike
Views from the chairlift
Hot chocolate in Malbun
New friends

Stause Steg – I explored less of the village and more just went for a walk up the river flowing through here. I also had my monthly call with my friend/mentor! Pretty great spot for a FaceTime.

Balzers – Visited the castle. Great views of the whole town from there.

Views of Balzers from the castle

The hike I did on my second day here was Fürstensteig. Beautiful views were at one point you could see Austria, Switzerland & Liechtenstein! It’s about 6km and takes around 2-3 hrs. There are some parts that have a sheer drop off so I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a fear of heights.

Looking at Liechtenstein + Switzerland
Looking towards Austria

Overall Thoughts:

I knew going into Liechtenstein that it was small, but I don’t think you can really comprehend it until you actually are here. It is comically small, but dang is it beautiful. To be fair, you basically feel like you are in Switzerland. If I didn’t tell you we had crossed the border, you wouldn’t know you were in a completely different country. It’s super beautiful, has dramatic views from the mountains, and is incredibly clean. Not tons of tourists, but there are definitely some. English was widely spoken and it’s easy to get around in your rental car or by bus. While I wouldn’t say it’s worth a visit coming allllll the way from the US, it’s certainly worth a visit if you are in the region!

CITY: Brienz

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at this incredible Airbnb. It truly was spectacular. I was there solo so obviously just needed a room, not a whole airbnb (& as we know Switzerland is expensive, so even just a room with a single bed wasn’t cheap). I wanted to be near the hikes/towns I wanted to go to + I had a car so decided against staying at a hostel in Lucerne (even though that was my original plan). I am SO glad I pivoted. This airbnb was so incredibly charming & had wonderful views of rolling green fields with cows on one side and stunning view of the lake on the other. Can’t beat it. It felt very authentic.

Sunset at the Airbnb
Room view
Adorable bedroom
Deck views in the morning
Deck views at sunset
Morning at the Airbnb

Where to eat:

I mostly bought groceries since this country is so expensive, but when I was in Grindelwald, the waitress accidentally thought I was with the couple ahead of me in line and asked “table for 3?” The couple chuckled and said “no, just two” before turning to me to stay “unless you want to join?” I don’t think they realized that I would enthusiastically take them up on their offer, since we all know I love meeting new people! I quickly found out that they were from Buffalo, NY and had just arrived fresh off the plane from the US. Lunch was their first stop… and, oh by the way, it’s their honeymoon. I quickly laughed while apologizing for crashing their first honeymoon activity. Luckily they said they appreciated the warm welcome as it was their first time leaving the US. They said it helped ease the culture shock. We admired the beautiful views from Bebbis and ordered our lunch. As a treat, I suggested some chocolate fondue for dessert. They happily agreed. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant for the food, but for a drink with a great view I can endorse it. Anyway, it was so fun chatting with them. I hope to cross paths with them again!

Lunch
Chocolate fondue
View our table at the restaurant

What to do:

Oh boy. SO much. The two main activities I focused on were visiting cute, quaint towns & hiking in the incredible nature so here’s a list.

Towns to visit:

  • Grindelwald – probably the most quaint village of them all. Expensive, but a no brainer to visit.
  • Lauterbrunnen- very cute & small. Start here to then visit Gimmelwald & Murren.
  • Gimmelwald & Murren- both are located way up in the mountains. You take a gondola ride up to Gimmelwald and then take another one up to Murren. Highly recommend going all the way up to Murren and then do a 30 min walk down to Gimmelwald. From there, you can take the gondola back down to base. You get unbelievable views of the valley and it’s just wild to be so high up in the cliffs.
  • Interlaken- located between two lakes (hence the name 😉 ), a nice sized town amongst all the tiny villages. A bustling downtown with lots of shops & restaurants. Worth a stroll & a meal.
Grindelwald
Grindelwald
Lauterbrunnen
Gondola views on the way up to Gimmelwald
Gondola in Gimmelwald
Hot chocolate in Murren
Murren
Gimmelwald

Hikes:

My favorite hike was one my friend recommended (shoutout to Joe). Don’t miss the ~5 mile loop around Oeschinen Lake. Here’s an in depth description of the hike itself. It has unbelievable views, a well-marked path, a lake with the bluest water, and a small hut with snacks half way through- what more could you want! One watch out: there were plenty of people in October, so I am sure it’s way more packed in July/August. Also, definitely take the gondola from Kandersteg up to the trailhead. You’ll get plenty of exercise with just the 5 mile hike.

First sight of the lake – water is insane
The waterfall!
Post hike sandwich

The other hike I did was on my way from Liechtenstein to Brienz. Seealpsee is one of the most beautiful little lakes and is located in the Alpstein region of Appenzell. It was about 90 min to get there & back. I can’t stress how idyllic it was. Once you arrive (be prepared for some uphill hiking), there is a little restaurant with a gorgeous outdoor deck & you can rent row boats. Alternatively, if you have time, you can make a loop around the lake.

I didn’t have time, but Joe also recommended this hike. It’s a challenging 6km point to point hike near Grindelwald.

Overall Thoughts:

Holy moly I forgot how much I love Switzerland. I felt at peace. I felt like I could breathe. I felt content. I felt full. I know it’s expensive, but I think it’s worth every penny. I can’t wait to go back with a more thought out plan + with more time. I don’t think you could run out of things to do (aka hikes to do) even if you spent a lifetime here. It’s magical.

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Liechtenstein + Switzerland:

Accommodation: $387 ($97 per night) Yep – let me repeat this region is PRICY, but also I stayed in a private room in an Airbnb for 3 nights, which drove up the cost.

Food: $142

Groceries: $37

Activities: $80

Local Transportation: $541 – rental car + gas (turns out it is not a good idea to wait until the last minute to rent a car – lesson learned haha)

Total: $1200 (Daily average: $300)

Transportation to next destination: $105 (Flight to London)

Walking Retreat + Bordeaux

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This blog will be slightly different as the large chunk of my time was at a walking & intermittent fasting retreat! 

I needed to kill 6 days between visiting Abi in Sheffield and heading to Surrey for Bex’s wedding so I chose to invest in myself a bit (since I’m feeling a little burnt out) by heading to a retreat in the South of France. Here’s the link in case anyone is curious! 

My sweet little room
Sun drenched patio + backyard

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. My goal was two fold: get a taste of walking the Camino to see whether it’s something I’d want to do in its entirety in the future & try to get a better handle of my eating habits while traveling. I always struggle with my weight/eating habits while traveling (annoyingly). 

The retreat delivered on both goals! I spent three days on the Camino, each day walking a different section. The first day I walked 8 miles from Eauze to Manciet. The second day was 9 miles from Manciet to Nogaro. The third day was a doozy – 19 miles from Nogaro to Aire-sur-l’Adour!! It was so grounding, calming, & refreshing to just walk for miles on end amidst all the vineyards. I enjoyed chatting with fellow Camino walkers as well. It definitely confirmed that it’s something I want to do in the future! Now just to find the time haha

Eauze
The many rolling hills I walked in
Nogaro
Nogaro
Vineyards galore

I had never tried intermittent fasting before but the host explained it as basically giving our bodies time to process the food we eat & cleanse itself. When we are eating all day long, our bodies are just tirelessly trying to keep up with everything. I am no means an expert but that resonated with me. She had me start with 8 hours eating window with a 16 hour fast. I chose to eat between 11-7pm, but she said as life happens, you can always move this window around. For example, at the wedding (knowing there would be food later on and I’d be tempted to eat it), I ate between 1-9pm. I really like that it’s both structured but also flexible. I’m good at following rules, so if the rule is to stop eating after my window closes, I so far have been successful at doing so. Anyway, I’m going to try to keep this up as I continue to travel as I think this is going to work better for me than other strategies. 

Lastly, the retreat had 6 horses (3 beautiful black horse & 3 miniature horses). The one other person at the retreat was actually there for a horse meditation retreat (the host also offers this program). Because there were only two of us, we each learned about the other’s retreat. I did some horse meditation and he did some intermittent fasting – a win win. Always fun to try new things!

On to the actual touristy bit: I had to rent a car to get to the retreat, which I was a bit anxious for but it ended up being awesome! After the retreat ended I booked an airbnb in Bordeaux for 2 nights. I used the journey from the retreat to Bordeaux to visit a bunch of spots along the way. There’s no way if I didn’t have the rental car that I could’ve done this. 

Cruising in my Fiat
Cute little airbnb
Very modern & clean

The drive itself was a treat, just slowly meandering through small towns and hundreds of vineyards. My first destination was Arcachon. I strolled along the beach and bought a sandwich for dinner later. 

Arcachon

Next I headed to Chateau de la Brede. Just a gorgeous property and I enjoyed walking around the whole spread. Crazy to think what life would’ve been like here in it’s hey day. 

Lastly, I raced to Saint Émilion. Known as a very cute little town outside of Bordeaux, it was perfect for sitting on a bench and enjoying my sandwich while the sun set. Highly recommend a stop here if you are ever in Bordeaux. It’s a fabulous day trip!

Bordeaux itself just felt so French! As my retreat host said “it’s my favorite city in the world, it’s like how Paris was 20 years ago” Architecture was beautiful and the city felt quite clean. Lots of beautiful streets to walk around. 

I did a walking tour as an efficient way to learn about the city since I only had one day here. After a girl I met on the tour and I headed to lunch at Nom d’Une Crepe, since I couldn’t go to France without having a crepe!

I also treated myself to cookie dough from Be my cookie and a cookie from Pepite cookie 😝

Overall I really enjoyed my stay in France (as always)! Fun to explore a region I hadn’t been to before in a way I haven’t done before (a retreat). As I continue to travel and inevitably get burnt out, nice to have another option for mixing it up. I might have to do more retreats in the future 🙂 

Northern Ireland

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CITY: Belfast

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Global Village, which was a fabulous hostel! Beds were comfy, had personal usb charging for your phone & a little shelf to put your stuff. Lockers under the bed fit both my backpacks for safekeeping. Also, they had a decent free breakfast of cereal & toast. Kitchen facilities were decent and the two common areas were spacious & cozy. Easy to meet people! I also met the owner who was very kind & even graciously refunded me a night when I last minute decent to go to Derry for a night with Ashleigh, an Aussie gal I met on the walking tour. The only slight downside is that it’s about a 20 min walk to the center of Belfast, but it’s an easy walk or bus ride. 9.5/10 would recommend this place!!

Where to eat:

I don’t have a ton of recommendations for sadly. I wasn’t overly impressed with the food in Northern Ireland sorry to say.

I tried JuiceJar and was pretty disappointed with the smoothie bowl. It was very icy and bland. 

Ashleigh & I went to a few pubs while traveling together but nothing notable. 

What to do:

The walking tour proved to be very pivotal to my time in Northern Ireland as I met Ashleigh, who ended up being my partner in crime most of the time while I was visiting. She showed up to the walking tour with very cute blonde curly hair so I went over and quickly complimented her & asked what her routine was like! We became fast friends during the tour and after we decided to go to lunch together. Then she invited me to join her to the Titanic museum. Then she suggested I join her in the rental car for the next 2 days to explore the countryside with an overnight in Derry. I decided to skip the tour I had booked and forego my night in the hostel (although I ended up getting that refunded) and said “heck yes.” I truly love being about to meet people and then changing plans to follow them on new adventures!

The most bombed hotel in Europe
Roadtrip with Ashleigh!

Okay now for what we did:

Titanic Museum –  Firmly okay. We felt like we didn’t learn much in the first half of the tour, although the second half was better. It seemed to be more about the building of the ship, when obviously we wanted to understand more about why it sank. 

Dark Hedges– Made famous from Game of Thrones! Northern Ireland played a big role in the filming of HBO’s Game of Thrones, with over 25 filming locations. Pretty stunning in real life!

Kinbane Castle – Fairly rundown but in a beautiful spot. Gorgeous walk to get to this lesser known castle and we didn’t run into a single other tourist!

Run down castle
Twins!
Gorgeous moody coastline
Peep the waterfall on the right

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge – One of the most photographed spots in Northern Ireland! It is thought salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years, but the current one was built in 2008. In 2018, the bridge had over 485k visitors.

Giants Causeway – This is what I was most excited to see! Pretty wild natural phenomenon. Almost 60 million years ago the Giants Causeway was formed, and this series of basalt rock columns is Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO world heritage site. Definitely a highlight, but it POURED rain on us on our walk back to the car, which was less fun. 

Post downpour

We stay overnight in Derry at Ashleigh’s hotel, but sadly given our big day, we were too tired to do anything once we arrived except get dinner. Both of us were let down by the restaurant so just headed back to the hotel to watch the first episode of the last season of Sex Education, which had just been released. We had a great night’s sleep before getting up early to head back to Belfast since Ashleigh has a wedding to get to!

Overall thoughts: 

I ended up having a blast, but if I hadn’t met Ashleigh, who knows if I would be saying the same thing. I’m always saying, traveling is all about who you meet!!! Also we were dying laughing half the time trying to guess if the people around us were speaking English or another language. Ashleigh even asked a few people and each time they laughed and said “of course we are speaking English.” Holy Moly is the Northern Irish accent hard to understand haha 

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Northern Ireland:

Accommodation: $86 ($28.66 per night) – Ended up getting one free night since I stayed with Ashleigh in her hotel in Derry.

Food: $67

Groceries: $0 (ate out + free breakfast at the hostel/hotel)

Activities: $119 (paid for a tour I ended up skipping to explore with Ashleigh + all the entrance fees + Titanic Museum)

Local Transportation: $86.70 (higher than normal due to the rental car)

Total: $359.7 (Daily average: $90)

Transportation to next destination: $201 (Connecting flight to France)- Bought last minute 😦 * Update – because the first flight ended up getting cancelled, I got $275 in compensation – yay EU flight compensation rules! This means I ended up $75 richer from the whole ordeal – and I still made it to France 🙂

Latvia

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CITY: Riga

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Cinnamon Sally’s hostel. Overall this is a fabulous hostel, but there was one major downside. First the good:

  • Super social & easy to meet people; organized social activities for the guests almost every day
  • Location was great – near the bus & train station, and only 10-15 min from Old Town. Grocery store across the street!
  • Bed was comfy, rooms were not cramped, & there were large lockers for your stuff.
  • Free breakfast that includes yummy fresh waffles! There were tons of toppings/spreads as well including my favorite: peanut butter!
  • A few different spots to sit with a computer and work or just chill & meet people.
  • Lots of volunteers & folks working so it was easy to get any questions answered.

Then the bad:

  • I found a bed bug in bed: When I went to bed at midnight, I felt something on my arm and grabbed it between my fingers in the dark. I thought “there’s no way it’s a bed bug but I’ll shine my phone on it anyway” Sure enough…. it was a bed bug 😦 Luckily it hadn’t bit me so I just killed it and went out to reception to get me a new bed. Here’s where I messed up, I let them give me a bed in the same bedroom
  • I woke up to more bed bugs: Cut to 2:30am and I wake up to me itching my arms…. I immediately fully wake up and grab my phone to shine the light, and yep there’s another bed bug scurrying around in my bed. I count 6 bites on my arms and back. Once again I kill it, but now there is now way I can go to bed. For one, the reception is now closed and two, I won’t even be able to sleep anyway. Now I get to begin the fun process of gathering all my things and going out to the common room to inspect every inch of every item to ensure no bed bugs got into my stuff. After much research about bed bugs, since this is the fourth time I have gotten them while traveling (1x in Naples, Italy in 2016, 1x in Gili T, Indonesia in 2020, 1x in Skopje, North Macedonia in Aug, and now Riga) and bed bugs don’t tend to carry any diseases so while the bites are itchy & annoying, it’s not that different than getting a bunch of mosquito bites. The thing you have to worry about is that they are incredibly difficult to get rid of and they are happy to hitch hike in your stuff all the way to your home (or wherever you are going next). Hence why it’s common to get them in hostels & hotels (since so many people are coming & going). Given this, after you find bed bugs, it’s incredibly important to ensure that they don’t continue on your journey with you , which inevitably means taking 1-2 hours to meticulously inspect your stuff and/or subjecting your bag to heat, since extreme heat or extreme cold are the only things that kill bed bugs. One technique often used by backpackers in hot places, is to put their bag in a black trash bag & leave it in the sun for a day or two. Well now you know way more than you want about bed bugs 🙂 Your welcome!!
  • All in all I don’t really blame hostels/hotels because they can do their best to keep bed bugs at bay, but travelers can just as easily bring them in. Given that, I don’t get mad at hostels for having bed bugs, but I certainly judge them based on how they handle the aftermath. I would give this hostel a 7/10 in their response. They ultimately gave me a refund on the night, free laundry & a new bed in a new room for my final night, but they were a little slow to agree to it and seemed to be slightly skeptical that I’d actually had bedbugs, even though I had photos… Definitely some room for improvement on how they treated me, especially since I’d had 2 hours of sleep!

Weirdly enough, I would still recommend this hostel but I probably can only give it a 7/10 because of the bed bug situation.

WHERE TO EAT:

The hostel had a delicious free breakfast in the morning so I would fill up on that and then I cooked at the hostel for dinner 🙂

Waffle breakfast 🙂
Proud of our hostel dinner – build your own salads!
Quiz night at the hostel

WHAT TO DO:

As always, I headed out on the free walking tour my first day there. I wrangled two Germans from the hostel into joining me and after the walking tour, we grabbed some snacks & headed to one of the many beautiful parks to soak up the sun.

German friends!
Beautiful parks!!
Spot where we soaked up the sun

I did a day trip to Sigulda to visit the Castle, do some walking in Gauja National Park, and see the highest and widest cave in the Baltics.

Sigulda
Into the National Park
The cave!

Lastly don’t miss Riga Central Market, Europe’s largest market & bazaar. It’s over 72,000 square meters (778,000 square feet), featuring more than 3,000 stands.

While I didn’t have time for it, another great option for a day trip is Jūrmala to visit the beach!

I also joined a gym that was nearby the hostel because they had a 3 day trial for 10 euros 🙂

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Riga is a very approachable city with clean streets, and a healthy mixture of old & new architecture. It was easy to get around and the parks were a dream. I met a few folks that had visited Riga and then never left, so it does seem to have something about it 🙂

BUDGET FOR 3 DAYS IN Latvia:

Accommodation: $71 ($24 per night) but I did get $24 back because of the bed bugs.

Food: $0

Groceries: $37

Activities: $6

Health: $10 (gym)

Local Transportation: $11

Total: $133 (Daily average: $44)

Transportation to next destination: $128 (Flight to London)

Lithuania

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CITY: Vilnius

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Jimmy’s Jump House. Overall great hostel! Location was very central to Old Town. Rooms were spacious enough. Had a good common room to hang out in with a tiny bar, but it was fairly quiet when I was there. The owners were incredibly kind & thoughtful. 8/10.

WHERE TO EAT:

Vilnius had so many fun restaurants to check out! 

Bull dog burgers– I have been making an effort to get more iron into my diet so I had a burger from here my first night in Vilnius. T’was delicious. I ate outside, which was great for people watching until it started to rain. Luckily I had just about finished my meal so paid & headed back to the hostel. 

Crustum– I wanted to try some local desserts so I stopped by Crustum, which was one of the few dessert places still open at 10pm when I began my search. I tried two desserts, and admittedly I didn’t think either was that good. Šakotis (tree cake) was fairly boring & bland tasting. I would say the same for Žagarėliai. But I’m glad I tried them.

Holy donuts– wow this place was 10/10 for me. It goes without saying that their donuts were incredible…. I may have had a few to test different flavors 🙂 But, they also had a yummy alll day breakfast menu. I had been craving some breakfast sandwiches, french toast, and, you guessed it, smoothie bowls so this place delivered. They also had a location in Kaunas (my next stop) so I had some meals at that spot as well. I literally went over 5 times in my 5 days in Lithuania – whoops!!

Rosehip vegan bistro– This reminded me of Wildseed back in SF. Really fresh, colorful, delicious vegan food, that doesn’t even seem vegan. Definitely recommend a stop here. 

Etno Dvaras – Lithuanian food is known for being very potato based! So I obviously had to try their traditional potato dumplings, called Cepelinai.

Tastes 100x better than it looks 🙂

Pirmas blynas – Rated one of the highest rated restaurants in Vilnius, it’s located in the bottom of a church and is a socially responsible business that employs folks with all different types of developmental differences. Has a focus on pancakes so it wasn’t a hard sell for me 🙂

WHAT TO DO:

I did a walking tour, which gave me some background on the city. They recommended climbing to the top of the Medininkai castle & the St. John’s Church Bell Tower at the university for great views of the city – so I did both of those. 

Random street
Užupis
View from the Bell Tower
View from the castle

Vilnius seemed to have a great food & bar scene. I had so many spots that I wanted to try. I also did a day trip to Trakai, which is a well-preserved historical village with more than 5 000 residents, and includes a castle located on an island. It’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country with a million visitors each year. I just took a bus from Vilnius (about an hour). Very easy day trip.

Trakai castle

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I loved the food scene here! I mean a cuisine that is centered around potatoes is right up my alley. Also it was a fun city to just explore on foot. Super safe, clean, & bustling with locals enjoying the last bit of summer.

CITY: Kaunas

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Monk’s Bunk Kaunas. It was the week after universities had started back up so it was fairly quiet. I ended up having a 4 bed dorm room to myself two of the three nights I was there. I think if it had been full, it would’ve been a pretty fun hostel. Decent kitchen facilities. Beds were comfortable! Location was right on the main walking street in the new part of town and it was a lovely 15 min walk to Old Town. Definitely recommend staying here. 9/10

WHERE TO EAT:

Habits bakery– Absolute divine bakery near the church where the walking tour started. Croissant was so flakey and buttery!

Holy donut – Visited the Kaunas location obviously. I just loved this place. 

Soul – Nice little spot near the main square. Reasonably priced for being in a touristy bit of town. 

Talutti’s – After a 10 mile run that morning, I decided to treat myself to a nice little dessert. Except I accidentally ordered a not so little ice cream sundae. But don’t worry I happily finished it. This place had an incredible assortment of ice cream dessert options. AND they had peanut butter so I was thrilled. 

Angolo Italiano – Best gelato in Kaunas. 

Habits
Soul
Talutti’s – so cute and small
In reality: not so cute and small
Angolo

WHAT TO DO:

I used my time to here to chill & eat delicious food. I did the walking tour + focused on just walking around the new & old town. I also went on three 7 mile + runs which allowed me to explore the river front & some different parks. There are a few day trips that you can do, but I chose to stay in Kaunas the whole time. I also caught up with so many friends since I didn’t really meet anyone at the hostel.

View from above Kaunas
Walking street
Walking street
View from the run
Main church

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed just meandering this sunny, but cooler-temperatured city. It felt clean, manageable, & not touristy at all. I barely heard any English. Fabulous! Truly Lithuania was a complete pleasant surprise. It reminded me of a mixture of Poland, Austria & Switzerland. I would be quiet happy to live here! 

BUDGET FOR 5 DAYS IN Lithuania:

Accommodation: $105 ($21 per night)

Food: $159

Activities: $15

Local Transportation: $16.50

Total: $305 (Daily average: $61)

Transportation to next destination: $13 (Bus to Latvia)

Bulgaria

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CITY: Sofia

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Hostel N1 and it was such a strange vibe. It’s known as the Rules hostel because on their site, it lists all the VERY STICT rules you must adhere to. Despite this, it has great reviews so I decided to give it a go. The rules that were listed, in general, were reasonable. No drinking at the hostel, quiet hours MUST be respected, no outside guests, etc. Overall, it’s like I can’t complain about it because the hostel was clean, safe, beds were comfy, and the kitchen was well stocked. But there were two main issues I had. None of the staff, including the owner, spoke English. Obviously while traveling I encounter folks who don’t speak English, which is completely fine given I am the one in their country where they don’t speak English. However, when you are running a tourist establishment like a hostel, it was very bizarre to have to communicate via Google translate all the time. I also would say they weren’t the friendliest volunteers & workers I have ever encountered. In the end, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it did contribute to a weird atmosphere, which takes me to the second point. Because of all the rules (even though they weren’t unreasonable), I think everyone in the hostel felt like they were walking on eggshells all the time, which led to further weird vibes in the hostel. It just didn’t end up being all that social, & when I finally did have a group of folks eating in the common room with me around 9pm, we were told to be quiet multiple times (even though quiet hours weren’t until 10pm). Like I said, it just was a weird vibe overall. Not warm & friendly. The one friend I made & I concluded that if you are an introvert, this might be your dream hotel! Regardless, I don’t think I would stay here again. 5/10 (since the facilities were still pretty good & the location was great). 

WHERE TO EAT:

Boom Burgers and Booze – I have been trying to mix in more red meat into my diet since the anemia diagnosis. This spot did not disappoint! Burger was delicious and the fries were some of the best I have ever had. 

Keba – I don’t normally have bars to recommend because I never go out, but Alex (new British friend from the hostel) convinced me to get a drink with her. I am a sucker for twinkly lights and this bar was full of them. Such a cute spot!

Keba

WHAT TO DO:

In continuing my kick for trying to remain active on the trip, I decided to join a gym in Bulgaria, which was kinda fun. The gym had locations in each of the cities I was going to so it was perfect. It was only $90 for the month (and since I was in Bulgaria for 12 days, it was a daily cost of $7.5) so I was pretty happy. I think I went about 12 times so it ended up being incredibly worth it. 

I did a walking tour and it was pretty interesting learning about the incredibly long history of Sofia and how it was under so many different regimes/empires of the centuries. It’s incredible how all around the city, you can still see the different layers. You’ll see ruins from the first settlements, with the roman empire layer on top of that, then the Soviet buildings on top, and modern buildings next door. They shared that every time the city tries to build a new subway line or dig deep for a new building, it gets very delayed because they inevitable find more ruins and have to stall building to deal with it. Pretty cool!

I also did a day trip with 4 other solo travelers from the hostel to do the Rila Monastery + 7 Lakes hike. I originally wasn’t going to do it, but Alex had signed up so I extended my stay at the hostel one night so I could join her. I am so glad I did! Definitely a highlight from Bulgaria. The monastery was beautiful but obviously the hike was the more exciting part. WOW OH WOW did I miss the mountains. It felt so incredibly good to be in the crips mountain air, hiking past beautiful lake after beautiful lake. Even just eating a sandwich on the trail felt like a bit of home (aka like being at my cabin in Tahoe). There was also just this really lovely vibe around going hiking with 4 other solo female travelers (representing the US, Australia, Germany & the UK) who otherwise wouldn’t have met. It was one of those moments where I am really grateful I get to do what I’m doing. 

Rila Monastery
Adding powdered sugar to the famous donuts
Donuts with a view
Rila Monastery
Starting the hike with a chairlift to the trailhead
First up, lunch at the base
The five solo travelers
First of the 7 lakes
Snack with a view
Meg with a view
So tempting to go for a swim (but that’s prohibited)
All the tiny tents!
Post hike beers
Lovely view on the way down
Happy girlies!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really liked Sofia! I honestly felt like I could live there. It was so easy to walk around, felt incredibly safe, and had a real charm to it. Also helps that it’s so cheap.

CITY: Plovdiv

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

This had to be one of my favorite hostels I have stayed at: Hostel Old Plovdiv. When I arrived they had my name on the whiteboard welcoming me! Then they promptly told me to drop my stuff and head outside in the backyard with them to hear about the hostel & Plovdiv over their homemade lemonade. It was so cute & sweet. The building was incredibly old and it was decorated to maintain its antique vibe. No bunkbeds – all the beds were cool old Victoria looking beds. Cozy atmosphere and it was very easy to meet people. I actually ran into a girl I had met in Kosovo a few weeks prior. Beds were comfy, AC in the room, breakfast was available for a few euros, & location was great. 9/10 would stay again. 

WHERE TO EAT:

Rahat Tepe – this spot was recommended by the hostel for some good local Bulgarian food with a view. On a beautiful sunny day that was a bit cooler, it would be great to to sit outside at this restaurant. Unfortunately when we went, it was SO hot outside so we sat inside near a window, which luckily meant we still got a pretty good view overlooking Plovdiv. Food was great + service was lovely. 

Green Library– As per usual I am always on the hunt for a smoothie bowl in these hot months. Green Library had a few fabulous smoothie bowls to choose from and I tried a few since I managed to drag friends from the hostel and we split two both times I went. 

Savi– Delicious gelato! They even had a peanut butter flavor 🙂

Rahat Tepe
Green Library
Savi
View of Plovdiv from Rahat Type

WHAT TO DO:

Plovdiv is a very pleasant town to just explore on foot. I did a walking tour but honestly it was so hot and the guide wasn’t great that I ended up bailing half way through. Given the heat, we decided we needed to find an activity that was indoors & in air conditioning so we landed on going to a movie. I ended up seeing Barbie for the 3rd time – and still LOVED it 🙂 

It’s fun walking around the old town, but I liked the Kapana area better. Really cute walking streets and it has a fun, bohemian, trendy vibe. I also found a woman wearing the same dress as me! We got so much joy out of the exchange and chatted for about 30 min 🙂

Old town
Kapana at night
Sunset
Twinning!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Other than the heat, I loved Plovdiv. Overall just a cute city to walk around and enjoy.

CITY: Burgas

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Despite being a major city on the Bulgarian seaside, there were no hostels. Very strange. I ended up deciding to just book an apartment with two twin beds. An Aussie I met in Plovdiv joined me for two of the three nights so that helped lower the higher cost of the apartment. It was so nice to be able to cook and spread out my things a little. 

Cute little home for 3 nights

WHERE TO EAT:

I mostly cooked while in Burgas! Such a treat 🙂

WHAT TO DO:

Burgas is a seaside town so the main activity is to head to the beach! I enjoyed walking along it for an afternoon, maybe with an ice cream cone in my hand 🙂

Cute walking street in Burgas
Beach time in Burgas

Beyond that, there are many cute smaller towns that are worth day tripping to. Dan (the Aussie) and I headed to Nesebar, with our one day together. It’s an easy one hour bus ride away. Nesebar is an UNESCO ancient city (dating back to 6th century BC), referred to as the “Pearl of the Black Sea. Lots of cool ruins & a beautiful little beach for a dip in the sea. Sometimes it’s hard to go swimming while being a solo traveler since you don’t have anyone to watch your stuff, so it was a treat to be with Dan. We took turns taking our first ever swims in the Black Sea!

Unique architecture in Nesebar
Classic old wooden structures
Ruins
First swim in the Black Sea
Beach
Boat turned restaurant
Ice cream with a view
Nesebar

Sozopol is another great day trip option, but I didn’t have time to get there this trip.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Burgas itself didn’t blow me away. Felt like a bigger city with minimal charm, but it just happens to be near the sea so it becomes a “destination”. In hindsight, I would’ve rather stayed in a cuter smaller seaside town.

CITY: Sveti Vlas

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I had planned to head to Varna as my final stop in Bulgaria, but after realizing that it was just another big seaside town AND ironically, even more importantly, there was no gym location there, I decided to go Sveti Vlas (I did a cross search of where gym locations were near the beach haha). Sveti Vlas is just past Sunny Beach (a very touristy beach town), so I liked that Sveti Vlas was a slightly more chill option. Once again, there were no hostels, but coming off the apartment, I was inspired to just do another stay like that. This airbnb was PERFECT. It was part of a resort complex, so there was a pool & restaurant (but I just cooked the whole time because the kitchen was so fabulous). The place had a laundry machine which was a treat. Most importantly it was a 5 min walk to the gym & 7 min to the beach. It felt like a mini staycation, but in a resort town. So kinda like a vacation, but I am in the middle of long vacation so who even knows what’s happening hahaha.

WHERE TO EAT:

I cooked the whole time so no recommendations.

WHAT TO DO:

Go to the beach 🙂

I spent a lot of time catching up with friends over FaceTime, going to the gym, reading by the pool, cooking & doing trip planning since that is never ending haha.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I am not sure I can really speak to Sveti Vlas since I almost just treated it as regular life, which meant I didn’t explore too much. But overall I adored my time here. A much needed rest!

Dinner from my deck
Treadmill with a pool + beach view – not bad
5 min walk from the apartment

BUDGET FOR 12 DAYS IN BULGARIA:

Accommodation: $487 ($40.50 per night)

Food: $124

Groceries: $137

Activities: $68

Health: $100 (gym membership)

Local Transportation: $140

Total: $1,072 (Daily average: $89)

Transportation to next destination: $178 (Flight to Lithuania) 

Cyprus

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CITY: Larnaca

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

After an exhausting, but incredible, time in Egypt, Stephen and I knew we would want to have a few days to completely relax & recuperate. Sentido Sandy Beach was the perfect spot to do so! It was such a treat to have no agenda other than to enjoy a resort stay 🙂 We opted for the half board meal plan, which meant food was taken care of. There was a gym we took advantage of. The pool had plenty of spots to find a chair in the shade, and the beach was only a few steps away. I will say it was very, very hot, so we also enjoyed lounging inside the main area of the hotel, which had incredibly comfy couches to read, play cards, and catch up on the blog! Lastly, our favorite thing about the hotel was the free Lemon Water, Sparkling Lemonade, & Pink Lemonade. 10/10 would highly recommend this hotel if you find yourself in Cyprus.

The resort
View from our room!!!
Our favorite perk

Where to eat:

We mostly ate at the hotel, but we had one INCREDIBLE meal outside the hotel. The reception recommended Lysia Meat Tavern for some local food, and holy moly it did not disappoint. The chicken was cooked to perfection! Stephen raved about his pork as well.

Also, despite being a buffet, the hotel’s restaurants did an excellent job with the food. I felt like everything was delicious!

What to do:

If I haven’t made it clear thus far, we really didn’t do much while here because the main goal was to CHILL (which I am not very good at, but I very much needed at this point in the trip). Our days looked like this:

  • Sleep in
  • Workout
  • Breakfast
  • Read by the pool
  • Play cards inside to beat the heat
  • Eat dinner
  • Watch a movie in bed

We did manage to get a few games in at the local bowling alley which was quite fun! We were the only ones in there so she let me play my music (obviously I put on Cian Ducrot’s new album). Not your typical fun bowling music, but Stephen humored me. He also managed to beat me in all three games unfortunately. Luckily I schooled him in our running game of rummy over the course of the two weeks so it all evened out 🙂

Lastly, we spent one afternoon exploring the city of Larnaca. We walked by the castle, the beach front & the church, as well as trying some Loukoumades (Greek donuts) since Stephen hadn’t had them before. They were yummy, but nothing beats an American donut hehe.

Overall Thoughts:

I am not sure I can really speak to Cyprus or even Larnaca as a whole, but we really, really enjoyed our stay at Sentido Sandy Beach. We felt like our room had the best view in the entire hotel, and we just fully were able to relax, knowing there was nothing we “needed” to do while here. The only to do was enjoy ourselves. I continue to appreciate seeing some nooks & crannies of the world that a lot of Americans don’t ever get to see in their lifetimes 🙂

Budget for 4 days in Cyprus:

Accommodation: $483 ($121 per night)

Food: $18.35 (because we had half board at the hotel)

Activities: $19.50

Local Transportation: $19.50

Transportation to next destination: $132 (Flight to Bulgaria)

Total: $672 (Daily average: $168)

Comments: This was very much a vacation amidst my trip, but despite this being more expensive than more normal budget, for the experience we had, it felt very reasonable!

Egypt

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This post will be structured a bit differently because Stephen (friend from home) & I traveled Egypt with a tour group. We did it thought Expat Explore & selected the 9 day Egypt Nile Jewel tour (cost about $1000usd). I’ve mentioned this before, but this is definitely not my preferred method of travel. However, traveling Egypt on your own can be quite difficult (although I won’t say impossible), and Stephen & I just didn’t want the hassle of doing all the research & logistics to figuring it out. Also, we wanted to make sure we would be safe the whole time (an armed guard traveled with us for most of the tour, which felt slightly overkill, but what do I know?). Despite not loving group travel, we wouldn’t have done it any differently. After backpacking for almost 6 weeks, it was quite nice to get to turn off my brain, make no decisions, and just follow the leader – literally.

There were 14 of us, representing the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Mexico, & the Cayman Island. There was one couple around our age, while the rest were older adults (some who had brought their kids). Overall a nice group of people!

Here are the highlights:

We started in Cairo, getting to visit the Pyramids & the Sphinx.

We made it!
Climbing inside the Pyramid
Being touristy
Sphinx in front of the pyramids
Sphinx

We flew down to Aswan to see Philae Temple & Abu Simbel Temple, before boarding our 3 night Nile River cruise!

We saw the Kom-Ombo, Luxor, & Karnak Temples.

Next up, we traveled to the Valley of the Kings & Temple of Hatshepsut.

A highlight was spending two nights in Hurghada at a resort, swimming in the Red Sea!

Resort time

Lastly we were back in Cairo to visit the Egyptian Museum.

Mummies!

Overall Thoughts on the Tour:

If anyone in my life was heading to Egypt and wanted my advice, it would be to travel with a tour company. We always felt safe, the logistics were arranged for us, and it was great to have someone to answer any questions that popped up regarding the history of Egypt or any site we were visiting. Despite that, this specific tour definitely could’ve been improved. They weren’t great at disseminating information or changes when they occurred. For example, the itinerary we received ahead of the tour was slightly different than the one we ended up doing. No problem, except they didn’t tell us, which meant folks had to miss out on the Sound & Lights show at the Pyramid. If they had told us ahead of time, this could’ve been avoided. Additionally, timing would often change by the hour, which was sometimes frustrating as someone who likes to know what’s coming ahead. For example, on the last day driving back to Cairo, we were told wake up time would be 5am. An hour later we were told 8am. Then it finally changed to 6am. JUST PICK A TIME!

Also, our tour guide didn’t do a fabulous job on “reading the room” when it came to his lectures at the sites. Some folks wanted to hear him talk for an hour. Others would have preferred to just walk around after getting the quick & dirty summary of what we were looking at. So when he went on & on in the 110 degree heat, a few of us could barely take in the info & would finally mosey off on our own. I wish he would’ve done a 15 min summary, then told the group the next meeting time & location, then offered to stay and continue chatting with anyone who would like to stay with him. Problem solved! I would give this tour a 6/10. It would be a better score if we’d had a different guide (the tour itself/itinerary was fairly standard and what you’d want to see if you were visiting Egypt). Lastly, my biggest piece of advice is to not visit in August (it’s way too hot LOL).

If you want to read a more in depth play by play review of the tour, my new Kiwi friend Mike wrote his hilarious, but biting thoughts here 🙂

Overall Thoughts on Egypt:

Truly it is incredibly difficult to wrap your head around the length of history we are dealing with in Egypt. It’s just so wild, especially for someone coming from a fairly new state in a fairly new country (California, USA). A historic home from CA might be from 1910. A historic temple in Egypt is almost 3,500 years old… pretty big difference haha. I just would walk around these old temples and think about all the different people and different lives that existed between these walls. So much history. My favorite temple was Abu Simbel Temple, located in the southern part of Egypt about 12 miles from the Sudanese border. The size & magnitude of the structures given it was built over 3000 years ago is just so flipping impressive.

While the history in Egypt is incredibly magnificent and awe-inspiring, the modern day Egypt is the opposite. It’s almost like it’s stuck in the past. Nothing about Egypt felt modern, new, or all that developed. It was wild to think about the juxtaposition of hearing about Egypt’s power & imposing reign all those years ago, with seeing so many abandoned and half finished buildings (that people seemed to still be living in). Cairo itself was incredibly overwhelming and I didn’t love it. Stephen and I talked about whether either of us could live here, and we didn’t think we would say yes to that opportunity. I am incredibly grateful for getting to visit Egypt and love that I say most of what I wanted to see, as I don’t think it’s a place I would come back to again & again, like I would some other countries I have visited.

BUDGET FOR 10 DAYS IN Egypt:

Tour (included most food, accommodation, local transportation + some activities): $970

Food: $60 (because we had half board at the hotel)

Activities not covered by tour: $195

Miscellaneous: $140

Total: $1,420 (Daily average: $142)

Transportation to next destination: $181 (Flight to Cyprus)

North Macedonia

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CITY: Skopje

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed in Skopje for one night before going to Ohrid and one night after (before flying to Egypt). Weirdly I had health issues while staying at both (some related to the hostel and some not haha)

First night, I stayed at Hi Skopje. This was very far from the city center and it was quite a hike to get there on foot. If you are here just one night and either arriving or leaving by bus, I would recommend staying at Shanti instead (only a 10 min walk from the bus station). Hi Skopje was fairly basic (beds had plugs & curtains), but had a cute golden retriever & some great hammocks outside. Thank god for the hammocks because at 3:30am I woke up with my legs & arms being so incredibly, painful itchy so couldn’t sleep at all. I finally got out of bed and just called my mom (thank god for the time difference) in the hammock outside. Finally got a hold of a doctor who told me just to get antihistamines (spoiler alert it was not an allergic reaction, but more on that later). This was obviously not the hostels fault, but I just didn’t have a great stay here. The host also got slightly snarky at me when I asked some questions (but I was just not feeling well so needed some help). Overall, this place wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. 6/10

Highlight of the hostel

My last night in Macedonia (after Ohrid) I stayed at Shanti Hostel. The beds had curtains & plugs. Smallish kitchen. Little patio outside to sit & chat. Not enough bathrooms. Did have AC. Great location. The people working there were LOVELY. They even let me keep some stuff there while I am in Egypt (I am returning for one night before going to Bulgaria). However, sadly I did wake up at 2:30am to itchiness on my arms & hands…. and sure enough I quickly found 3 bed bugs in my bed 😦 Such a bummer since I had just gotten over the previous health issue while in Ohrid. Also I was leaving for the airport at 5:30am so I decided to just get up and out of the bed/room. I spend the next 2 hours meticulously inspecting everything in my bag and every clothing item to ensure no bed bugs got into my bag. So frustrating! Despite this, I would actually stay here again… and in fact I am as I mentioned, just in a different room this time haha. Bed bugs are bound to happen while staying in hostels for 18 months and when I told the hotel they responded perfectly & said they would refund my stay as well as spending the whole day inspecting the room & working with a outside team to rid the room of them. I thought they handled everyone appropriately, so kudos. 7.5/10.

Where to eat:

I didn’t spend much time in Skopje so the only restaurant I went to was Markt Kitchen. It had yummy salads, avocado toast, and you guessed it, smoothies! It was great to get some eggs + a smoothie in the AC after walking around in the heat of the Old Bazaar in Skopje.

What to do:

I really only had an afternoon here so I chose to just walk around and see all the crazy, large, ornate sculptures & statues as well as the Old Bazaar. It’s really strange how many incredibly large statues there are around the city. It’s like instead of investing money into beautifying the city with greenery, they decided to funnel all the money into over the top sculptures.

The other two main things to do are visiting the caves at Matka canyon & going to the Millennium Cross (with views of the city). If you have time, add these to your list!

Overall Thoughts:

The theme of not loving Eastern European country’s capitals continues with Skopje. I’m glad I only had 2 nights here in total & they are were frankly necessary as it’s a transit hub. I don’t think you really need to spend much time here.

CITY: Ohrid

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at two hostels, both fabulous in different ways:

Old Town Hostel Ohrid – Wow – this might be one of my favorite hostels of the trip! Sadly I was just too sick to enjoy it much. The beds had curtains, plugs, personal light & a shelf. Great wifi. Cozy space downstairs to read or lounge. Outside had a picnic table under the shade where people tended to gather and meet one another. Staff were INCREDIBLE, especially helping me navigate my health issues, including visiting a doctor. They also organize activities, including some dinners, which were great for meeting people. It’s also in the perfect location, just one street off from the main walking area of town. This place ALWAYS books up, so don’t be afraid to just book this as soon as you know you are going 🙂 10/10

View from my room at the hostel in Old Town!

Robinson Sunset House– as I mentioned, Old Town books up, so I was only able to snag 2 nights there. After I moved to Robinson Sunset House, which has a very different vibe. While Old Town is very social and in the heart of Ohrid, Sunset House is a 15 min bus ride out of town along the lake, and is a tranquil little paradise. Both were fabulous, but make sure you are okay with being out of town with more limited access to town. Although it was very easy to grab a bus or hitchhike into town (I did both). That being said, the family who runs this hostel are incredibly chill, almost too chill. Like I had to track them down to pay because they were no where to be found. Another backpacker checked me in and showed me to the room because they were no where to be found. While comical, and while it all seems to work out in the end, it’s slight too laid back given this is still supposed to be a hostel. The room was very basic and clean. Had an ensuite bathroom. Best part of this hotel was by far the views. It’s perched up on the hill so sunset is dreamy. I loved hanging in the pool & the hammocks. Truly this place is special. 8.5/10

Dreamiest hostel
Pool!
Laundry with a view
Hostel at golden hour

Where to eat:

All these places are in Ohrid:

The Lion – Another backpacker recommended this place to me. It was delicious! Classy vibe and slightly nicer than the normal backpacker dinner spot. Also right along the water front. Great spot for a drink + dinner.

Fruit box – Are we even surprised at this point that I sought out a smoothie spot haha. I went here so often that the people knew my order by the end 🙂 Luckily it was about a 3 min walk from Old Town hostel. The smoothies were dynamite & the customizable Chia pudding was perfection. This is the a great breakfast, lunch or snack spot.

Bros. Burgers– Honestly one of the best burgers I have had. The fries also had a really yummy seasoning on it. Don’t miss a dinner here!

There were also tons of cute little stands that had desserts at night – not sure if that’s just because there was a festival going on though. I had some gelato and a waffle stick covered in chocolate that was so delicious.

What to do:

SWIM IN THE LAKE! Also just enjoy being in the sun & walk around the lake front. There’s a beautiful church to watch sunset from. But truly the main things is to slow down, read by the lake and then cool off with a dip in the water. My favorite kinda place.

The other main thing I did was finally go to the doctor 😦 After waking up in Skopje with the itchiness & starting to take the antihistamines (per the tele-doctor’s instructions), I didn’t really start to feel better (still was itchy + really exhausted) & my joints started to feel incredibly swollen & stiff (which I had never felt before). After getting past the American anxiety of having to go to a doctor and not know how much of my net worth I will have to shell out, the owner of the hostel told me to go to a clinic a 5 min walk away and that it would likely cost $30…So I trudged over and was seen immediately & had blood drawn. They told me to return 3 hrs later to get my results! I couldn’t believe how easy it all was. I went & treated myself to a smoothie from Fruit box before heading back to the clinic. While waiting in the clininc for the doctor to read me my results, I admittedly started to get very scared/nervous/sad/defeated/homesick and began to silently cry. Feeling sick in a foreign country with no one familiar to lean on is not fun!! I was verging on a mini anxiety attack, when a sweet Macedonian grandmother sat next to me noticed and in broken English began chatting with me. She snapped me out of the panic spiral I was heading down and I am eternally grateful for this kind person. She probably doesn’t even know how much I needed the distraction in that moment. Soon after, I saw the doctor, and with the help of a nurse to translate, it was revealed that I was very anemic & had low red blood cells. They said the itchiness is from the anemia & the stiff joints were from all the antihistamines I was taking that weren’t actually treating anything. My friend said maybe all the smoothie bowls are taking a toll, but regardless it was a huge relief to finally know what was going on, and that it wasn’t anything more serious. With my new iron pills in hand, I was already starting to feel better… Oh the joy’s of traveling!! Also, the two doctors visits, the blood draw & a 2 month supply of iron pills cost me $75. Healthcare outside the US is a dream.

Sick Meg

Overall Thoughts:

Despite feeling quite unwell while here, I still loved it! I just wish I could’ve spent more time swimming & meeting fun people at the hostel. I truly would’ve been happy to spend another week here. Hopefully I get back here at some point in my life!

Sunset from the beach in front of Robinson Sunset House

BUDGET FOR 6 DAYS IN North Macedonia:

Accommodation: $98 ($24 per night)

Food: $82

Groceries: $15

Health: $83

Local Transportation: $73

Miscellaneous: $5

Total: $362 (Daily average: $60)

Transportation to next destination: $250 (Flight to Cairo)